


Two Peas in a Pod

by Ralemalt



Series: Fiki Week [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Bullying, Fighting, Gen, dwarflings, my mind went to kids idek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralemalt/pseuds/Ralemalt
Summary: In Kili's mind, it's not fair that Fili's the only one being punished.
Written for FiKi Week.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I think I deviated from this prompt a little, but it has baby dwarves so I can't regret it.
> 
> Prompt: Warriors or Kings

A small dwarfling stomped angrily away from the small wooden cottage where he lived with his mother and brother, a dark storm cloud hanging over his head as he clutched tightly to his small bow.

He'd been kicked out of the house to play on his own because his mother had firmly stated: "Your brother is being punished for fighting. It's not a punishment if you're there to play with him!"

Kili growled to himself as he remembered how he'd tried to explain _again_ what had caused the fight in the first place.

"That's not fair, Mama! Fee was just-"

"I don't want to hear it, Kili." His mother had interrupted him. "He broke that boy's nose! I will not have my sons fighting our own people like that. Now go outside to play. It's about time you made friends with different children and spent some time apart."

That was the last thing Kili wanted to do. Nothing was fun without Fili there to enjoy it with him, and none of the adults in their family understood that. They did everything together, even get punished together!

What made Kili upset the most was that the fight hadn't even been Fili's fault and their mother wouldn't listen to them when they tried to explain. It had been that stupid Demli that had started the whole thing.

Demli and his little gang of older dwarves had been picking on both Fili and Kili for as long as the brunet could remember. But Kili was the easier target since he was small and easy to get a rise out of, and they had taken great joy in tormenting the younger dwarf, laughing when Kili would finally burst into tears.

Fili had been taught to turn the other cheek, and he always had to drag his little brother away from the jerks so he could try to calm him down and reassure Kili that nothing they said was true.

"When you're the best archer in the whole world, they're going to be sorry they ever called you an elf." Fili would always ruffle Kili's hair and hug the smaller boy tightly, making up jokes and stories until Kili was bright eyed and laughing again and his earlier tears were forgotten.

But the bullying had escalated the day before as he and Fili had been getting some supplies for their mother.

Demli and his friends had started up again the moment they spotted they younger dwarves, but Kili had been adamant that he was going to ignore them. He grabbed a tight hold of Fili's hand as the eldest led them through the market and to different merchants.

"Hey, Flea, shouldn't you keep that cave troll on a leash?" Demli drawled smugly, and he practically beamed when his friends laughed.

Kili wanted to turn but forced himself not to. Fili always said they kept doing it because he reacted, so if he didn’t react then maybe they’d go away.

"We still need to get some flour for Ma." Fili squeezed Kili's hand, effectively drawing his attention away from the group. It was Fili’s way of telling Kili that he was doing a good job without having to say so out loud. "Then we'll have fresh baked bread for supper, Kee." He grinned at his brother and Kili returned it.

"You're obviously too dumb to understand. Here, let me show you." Demli insisted.

Before Kili could comprehend what had happened, something was placed over his head and tightened around his throat.

"Fee!" He automatically cried out, but the word was choked off rather abruptly when whatever was around him tightened more.

Panicking at his inability to breathe, Kili collapsed to the ground and tugged frantically at the thing around his neck. There was shuffling and a lot of yelling before the small dwarf managed to pull it away with shaky fingers.

It had been a rope.

A cry pulled his attention away from the rope, and he looked up to find Demli flat on his back in front of him with Fili sitting on his chest. Kili watched in wide eyed awe as his usually calm and collected older brother drew back his fist and slammed it into Demli's face again and again.

"Don't you touch my brother!" Fili snarled animalistically. He'd gotten hit somewhere in the scuffle while Kili had been struggling with the rope because Kili could see blood oozing out from a cut along his cheek, staining his light stubble red. But any injury he'd sustained was not stopping him from pummeling Demli.

The young brunet stood frozen, shocked by the ferocity in which his big brother was defending him. Fili had always been protective, but nothing had ever escalated to something physical before, and it was clear that the few fighting lessons that their uncle had taught him were paying off.

The shouts from Demli and his friends had eventually drawn the attention of some of the adult dwarves, and one of the shopkeepers had appeared and had pulled Fili off. After that it was a confusing blur of yelling and others talking as Demli sobbed to one of the dwarves that he'd been attacked unprovoked. Nobody had witnessed anything before Fili had launched himself at the other youth, and they wouldn't listen whenever Kili tried to explain.

Fili remained silent as he was scolded first by the dwarves around them, and then by their mother when she'd finally appeared and dragged them home.

"Fili, you are a _prince_. Princes do not go around attacking others!"

Kili hid behind his brother, arms tightly wrapped around Fili's waist and his face buried in the familiar material of Fili's coat. The small brunet was just so overwhelmed by all the noise and activity that had happened that all he could really do was cling to who he felt safest with.

Eventually, Fili had been sent to their room as punishment, and Kili had gone with him because that's just the way their punishments always went. They curled up under their blankets and Fili wordlessly checked to see if Kili had been hurt, finding a little rope burn just beneath Kili’s chin.

That had been yesterday and today Dis had finally separated the two when she'd heard them giggling as they played a game.

Now Kili was on his own until dinner when he would need to return home. He hoped that Fili's punishment wasn't for much longer since the younger dwarfling was already bored without his brother, but he hadn't seen their mother so angry before. Maybe Fili was going to be grounded forever!

With little else to do, Kili made his way to a small wooded area just outside the village that his uncle had created so that his nephews could practice using a bow. Fili was alright with the weapon, but Kili knew the blond preferred his sword more and had only taken up the bow so that Kili wasn't the only one. Fili had probably hoped that it would have lessened the teasing Kili had to endure, but because the brunet had excelled at it, Fili learning hadn't done anything. Kili still appreciated the gesture, even if he didn’t know how to express it.

He'd been practicing for almost an hour before his ears picked up the sound of someone else moving toward the range. At first his heart hoped it was Fili, that maybe their mother had finally relented or that maybe his big brother finally managed to tell her what had happened.

But no.

There were multiple footsteps and that only ever meant trouble for Kili.

"Aw look at the elf-spawn, playing with his toys." The sound of Demli's voice made Kili's grip tighten around his bow. The smaller brunet just took a deep breath and reveled in the satisfaction that that ugly voice sounded nasally because of his broken nose.

Brown eyes glanced at the other dwarves warily, but Kili knew better than to show fear. "That crooked nose makes your ugly face look better, Demli. You should be thanking my brother." He growled as he nocked another arrow, intent on ignoring the group.

Demli waited for Kili to draw back his arm before muttering, "I heard that yellow rat isn't even really your brother."

Shock at such an accusation spread through Kili and his arrow went too wide, disappearing in the bushes and trees behind the target. He turned a glare at the group only to be faced with a bunch of smirks and sneers.

"Of course Fili's my brother." Kili hissed angrily, "He must have hit you too hard." He moved to get another arrow, the entire idea so ridiculous. Everybody knew that Fili took after their father.

"He doesn't even look like you or anyone else in your family. You're not really brothers." Demli said calmly, but Kili refused to believe it. “Your uncle should use him as dragon bait! I bet that dragon would notice that piss coloured hair of his and mistake it for gold.”

Kili was not afraid of many things. He still had a child's fearlessness and had never had a reason to really know fear. He'd always had a big brother there to protect him or distract him or help him face the scary things so he wouldn't have to do it alone.

The things Kili _was_ afraid of most were angering their mother and losing his brother. He shuddered at the very idea of Fili being hauled off by a big scary dragon.

“Then the beast could add that piece of orc-shit to his collection.” Demli finished off.

Kili’s eyes flashed at that word, and he turned to glare at the older dwarf, any fear he’d felt replaced by rage. “What did you call my brother?” He demanded.

Names were nothing new to Kili, and he’d heard them thrown at Fili before too, but to call anyone something so vulgar was unheard of!

Demli caught on that this new nickname bothered Kili, so he smirked as he leaned forward a little to make sure the brunet heard it right. “You heard me. He’s. A. Piece. Of. Orc. Shit.” He spit the ‘t’ in Kili’s face.

Kili reacted before he could even think about it, drawing his fist back like he did with his arrow, only this time throwing his fist forward much like he’d witnessed Fili do the day before. While Kili’s hand was rather small, it landed square on Demli’s already broken nose.

The larger dwarf howled loudly at the sudden pain and it quickly brought others to the scene to see what was going on.

Kili knew his mother would find out and he’d be in trouble, but for the moment he didn’t care. He was too busy feeling smugly satisfied by seeing tears on Demli’s face for a change. That would teach the dwarf to spout such garbage about Kili’s big brother.

***

Kili stomped up the stairs toward their bedroom with his mother in tow. She hadn’t said much of anything since she came and got him from the range except that they were going to be talking when they got home. But Kili didn’t want to talk. He knew she wasn’t going to listen to him either, and he didn’t care. This meant he’d be getting punished for fighting, so he and Fili could be punished together _like_ _it was supposed to have happened in the first place_.

He pushed open the closed door to the room, eyes automatically seeking out the familiar figure and finding him at a small desk that their uncle had built so they could practice their letters on. It looked like Fili had been reading from one of the books he had for lessons, and Kili felt utterly horrible because nobody deserved _that_ for punishment.

Blue eyes automatically looked over the smaller figure for any signs of injury or distress, and Kili knew better than to try to hinder his inspection. Once Fili was looking at his face again, Kili gave him a wide grin to reassure the blond once more.

The brunet heard their mother’s long suffering sigh as she nudged Kili forward and into the room a little more. “Your little brother was caught fighting today.” She sounded tired but also annoyed. “He looks up to you, Fili. You have to remember how much your actions influence him-”

Kili saw red just as he saw Fili open his mouth to apologize. The youngest Durin exploded and spun to face his mother, his hands moving to his hips much like hers did when she was scolding them. “Stop blaming Fili!” He shouted at her in hopes of her actually listening this time. His fac was scrunched up and turning red from his frustration. “It’s Demli’s fault because he’s always picking on us, and I only punched his ugly nose because he called Fili a bad word! And yesterday Fili _defended_ me because Demli put a rope around my neck and was choking me!” Angry tears blurred his vision and quickly trailed down his cheeks.

Kili sniffled and wiped his nose, yelping in surprise as his mother was suddenly on her knees before him and her fingers were moving along his neck. When he realized she was just looking him over for injury, he stood still and let her until she pressed her fingers against the mark beneath his chin, then he hissed and pulled away. He didn’t get very far before he was enveloped within her strong arms, and after a moment, Fili joined them in the hug. A kiss was pressed to both their heads before the embrace tightened just a little.

“I’m sorry.” Their mother murmured quietly, sighing into Fili’s hair as she squeezed them again. “You tried to tell me, but I wouldn’t listen.” Dis admitted quietly. “You’re both so usually well behaved; I was just so shocked and flustered by your actions. I should have listened to you the first time.” She pet both their heads.

The three were quiet for a while before they separated.

“Does that mean we’re still going to be punished?” Kili frowned, now wiping his face of any tears. Normally their punishment ended when they apologized, but Kili was far from feeling sorry for what he’d done, and if Fili opened his mouth to do it then the brunet was going to stomp on his foot. “’m not gonna say sorry for standing up for Fee.”

A nudge to Kili’s side caused him to look up to find his brother smiling, “And I’m not going to apologize for defending Kee.”

The two boys waited quietly as Dis made her decision, and when she did she scooped them both up into another hug. “You can come out of your room and go play, but stay close to the house. You’re both helping me with dinner tonight, and we’ll talk about what happened yesterday and today in more detail. Then we’ll decide from there, how’s that?”

There wasn’t really a choice to make and both boys agreed to it immediately. Even if they were punished, at least they’d be listened to first.


End file.
